Already the 16th Ljubljana Festival of Culture and Art Education Beavers will be held in Ljubljana between 16 March and 6 April 2024. All events will be admission-free, with online ticket collection set up this year.

140 events for over 13,000 visitors

We will open the Beavers on Saturday, 16 March, at 10:00, in the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre with a shadow play by director Fabrizio Montecchi, titled My Grandfather Was a Cherry Tree, and traditionally close at the Kino Šiška – Centre for Urban Culture on Saturday, 6 April, at 17:00 with the premiere of the lively concert Tunes from Mousedale Dunes. Thirteen musicians and storyteller Anja Štefan will liven up the stage.

The program consists of events (theatre, book, music, dance and film) that can already be seen in the regular program of theatres, cinemas or other institutions that prepare programs for children and the youth, as well as many novelties. With the festival and its theme in mind, numerous workshops, guided tours and other activities have been designed, which will take place in museums, galleries and other cultural spots around Ljubljana.

Festival theme

The festival program will revolve around the theme of interweaving. The program (theatre, film, dance, storytelling, music events, workshops, guided tours and other activities) will discuss different ways to build mutual relations and encourage reflection on this. We will think about the ways we can connect and form bonds at a time when we are witnessing increasing alienation and growing feelings of loneliness. The pressures of hyper-production, competitiveness, dependence on electronic devices and the emphasis on individualism often lead to distress and unhealthy relationships and, above all, difficulties in establishing contacts. We will take a close look at how important kindness, compassion, sensitivity, empathy and perceptiveness are in connecting and building communities.

We will pay special attention to art as one of the means of connection. Namely, it has the power to connect ideas and imaginations, as well as people, to open up new horizons, offer a safe space for expression and promote dialogue between individuals. Through cultural and artistic content, we will explore the potential with which we can overcome alienation and forge strong bonds in the modern world.

Guests from abroad

Performances from other countries will again enrich the program, this time from Slovakia, France and the Czech Republic. In the Španski boric Culture Centre, it will be possible to see the minimalistic dance performance Microworlds from Slovakia, which, with the help of subtle movements and play with small objects, directs attention to often overlooked little things and playfully and poetically explores the fragility of our existence. The Dance Theatre Ljubljana will host the poetic and playful play Tok tok tok from France, directed by the Slovenian creator Mateja Bizjak Petit, who works between Slovenia and France.

Beavers' Thought Exchange

The novelty of this year's festival is the intergenerational project Beavers' Thought Exchange, which invites festival visitors to brighten someone's day with their good wishes, thoughts, encouraging words and wisdom.

The intergenerational project is aimed at intertwining ideas, imagination and contacts and opening new horizons while at the same time offering a safe space for expression, encouraging dialogue between individuals and reviving the written word.

In the project, we will work together with primary schools, homes for the elderly and the Third Age University. Mailboxes with blank cards will be set up at the fifteen festival venues, on which visitors can write any thought they want and send it to an unknown addressee. At the conclusion of the project, we will collect the best thoughts in an e-booklet and share them on social networks.